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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned the public against buying vaccines and prescription medicines over the Internet, saying the government prohibits any advertisement of such kind of drugs in any form of mass media.

In an advisory posted on its website, the FDA has taken the operator of the popular buy-and-sell website “www.sulit.com.ph” to task after it discovered the illegal advertisement of at least 166 medicines, which are mostly prescription vaccines and other biological products for humans and pet animals.

The website operator agreed to take down the advertisements on November 27, 2013, the FDA said.

FDA head Kenneth Hartigan-Go said this was despite the cooperation from the site’s owner, who took down 166 medicines – mostly prescription vaccines and biological products for human and pet animals – last November.

“All consumers are hereby warned against buying their medicines (through) the Internet. Buying prescription and over-the-counter drugs from the buy-and-sell website like “www.sulit.com.ph” is risky. The advertisers may be bogus,” he said.

He added that while the links to the sites may look professional and legitimate, “it could actually be an illegal operation or a scam.”

So far, Hartigan-Go said they found at least five vaccines still being sold online through “www.sulit.com.ph”, including: